One of the most important components on a truck or automobile is the tire. The tire provides the only contact with the road and is thus essential for stopping and turning, making proper maintenance of the tire a necessity for the safety of the vehicle occupants. In an effort to enhance the quality of tires, manufacturers have perfected rubber compounds that are resistant to degradation. The use of metal or fiberglass belts in addition to degradation resistant rubber combine to make disposal of worn out tires a serious problem.
In the United States alone nearly three hundred million automobile and truck tires are discarded each year. Previously the tires were placed in landfills where they consumed valuable space, as the tire creates a volume of non-fillable space that approximates the size of the tire as the space is within the sidewalls of the tire. To lessen the burden on landfills, used tires are now separated from regular waste materials and placed into their own landfill or recycled. Tire landfills have created new problems such as providing huge areas of unsightly waste that are both fire and health hazards. Rubber tire compounds are nearly impossible to extinguish once ignited producing noxious sulfur dioxide gas during combustion. Once a tire fire occurs the ground and water table surrounding the dump may be contaminated for decades. Further, the trappage of water within the tires produces countless bodies of water ideal for breeding mosquitoes. While various recycling processes are well developed, in many instances the cost is prohibitively high leaving landfills as the most viable alternative for disposal of waste tires.
One of the problems with the tire disposal, to which this invention addresses, is that the majority of tire treating devices are directed to equipment located at the landfill. The tire replacer, whether it be a local gas station or a tire specialty shop, has a storage problem like a landfill albeit on a smaller scale. For example, a local gas station that refits ten cars will have forty tires that must be stored until a transport truck picks them up. Storing the tires outside subjects the tire to rain wherein water can be trapped inside the tire casing. This standing water provides a breeding ground for bugs and increases the weight of the tire. The transport truck must also attempt to store as many tires as possible to keep transportation costs to a minimum. Tire volume affects the transportation as the vehicle is limited in capacity even if the tires are stacked neatly. Should the tires be filled with water it will make stacking difficult. Thus, the used tire presents a disposal problem by the mere size of the tire casing and the inability to stack a plurality of tires.
Used tires are known to make excellent artificial reefs. In such instances the tires must be filled with cement to prevent air trappage causing flotation of the tire. For this reason, it has been recognized that a tire cut in half eliminates the ability for the tire to trap air beneath water or hold a volume of water when stored above ground. A split tire further allows for the stackability of tire halves by placement of one inside another. Splitting of a tire in half may eliminate standing water, stacking problems, and flotation problems when used as a reef, improper splitting may cause additional problems. In particular, improper splitting may lead to exposed wires from metal belts that can cut a person who attempts to move the tires or fish that come in contact with the exposed belts. While a number of prior art patents set forth devices that can split a tire casing in half, none of the prior art teaches an affordable tire splitter that addresses the need to make a smooth cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,120 sets forth a device for cutting a tire in half. The device utilizes a mandrel which engages the inner portion of the tire and is pressed against the biasing wheels so as to cut the tire into two halves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,973 discloses another cutting device which also cuts the tire casing from the inside out. The use of a knife blade limits the device to materials that can be cut with a knife as a steel reinforced belted tire will resist cutting and quickly lead to blade replacement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,738 discloses a tire splitting apparatus which is claimed as an improvement to the previous patent by teaching a mechanism for improving tire support so as to allow repeated revolutions as necessary in order to complete the tire splitting process. The tire is held in a guide clamp providing for the true rotation of the tire using a pressure roll head with a knife mounted thereon inserted through the crown of the tire which performs the cutting from the inside of the tire outwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,321 discloses a method and apparatus for cutting tires in half for the purpose of stacking and storage. The apparatus is an elaborate mechanism that slices a tire in half and performs radial incisions in each half which extend through the threaded portion and part of the sidewall. Each half is then stacked on top of each other in order to form a pile of half tires before the pile is compressed in order to flatten each half tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,351 discloses a cutting mechanism which is inserted through the inner opening of the tire and pressed against a backing support adapted to split the tire into two separate halves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,772 discloses another tire splitting mechanism that inserts through the inner opening of the tire and presses the tire against a cutting mechanism such as a flat knife so as to slit the tire into portions that can be easily stacked.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,496 discloses yet another tire cutting device disclosing the use of a shredder for cutting the tire into pieces by a series of predefined cuts.
Thus, what is needed in the art is a low cost portable tire cutter for point-of-use placement that operates with a conventional band saw that will not foul like a knife blade.